Misha Collins Interview SUPERNATURAL

At the end of Season 6, on The CW drama Supernatural, fallen angel Castiel (Misha Collins) made a deal with the King of Hell to find the door to Purgatory and open it. In return, and against the warnings of Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), he now harnesses the power of all monster souls after absorbing them, making him God-like. With no idea of how to stop Castiel, Season 7 finds everyone’s favorite demon hunters reeling from the loss of their friend, as they realize they are about to face an enemy more shrewd and adaptable than any they’ve ever fought.

During a recent interview, actor Misha Collins talked about the evolution of Castiel over the seasons, how being God is not all it’s cracked up to be, that he first learned Castiel was heading down this road at the end of Season 5, and how much he’s enjoyed working with co-star Mark Sheppard. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Question: Is it good to be God?

MISHA COLLINS: It is good to be God, yeah. It’s nice to get the recognition that I’ve been working so hard for. It’s hard to be God. It’s not easy. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried it. Maybe at home, with your family? It’s not going as smoothly as one would hope, to be honest with you. Being God is not all it’s cracked up to be, and it’s not as easy as one would think it would be. You’d think the deck would be really stacked in your favor as God, but of course, I’ve run into some pretty big obstacles and problems already.

Has it been fun to play a character that’s evolved so much, since you started on the show?

COLLINS: Yes. One of my favorite things about the show is that nothing is stagnant. The storylines are constantly changing. The characters are constantly changing. There’s always something new to work with, and that’s great. I love that about it.

Is there any difference in what you’re doing with your voice, now that Castiel is God?

COLLINS: Yes, I think that I consciously made a decision to have God push it just a little less than Castiel does, in the window-breaking department. He’s still got a pretty butch voice, but not quite as butch as Castiel’s.

At what point did you know where your character was going?

COLLINS: At the very beginning of Season 6, they gave me a pretty good indication of the arc of the character, but I didn’t know that I was going God, at that point. They actually originally planned to make Castiel God at the end of Season 5. That’s a little tidbit for you. But instead, Chuck was God.

Would that have only been if the series ended there?

COLLINS: I don’t know if that was about the series ending, or just the storyline for Castiel culminating in that. I’m not sure. But, I know that they had a very cohesive plan for ending the series at Season 5, if they needed to. They always have a plan in place. If the show is to end at the end of the season, they have a way to wrap it up, and if not, they have a plan to carry on. That’s where we are right now.

Are you surprised with how things have turned out, over the period of time you’ve played Castiel?

COLLINS: Yeah, it was just supposed to be a few episodes, originally. Actually, when I auditioned for it, I thought it was one episode. Then, it turned out it was three. And then, it was six. And then, it was 12. It kept evolving. Yes, of course, it’s always a surprise when they decide to keep you longer. Jared [Padalecki] and Jensen [Ackles], who play Sam and Dean, are up in Vancouver, largely isolated from their friends and family. I went up there to shoot a couple episodes, and they really liked me. It was like they had a friend up there, and they absolutely insisted that I be kept on, so the writers totally retooled the show, just so that Jared and Jensen would have a friend because Canadians hate them, as a rule. No.

Has there been anything particularly challenging about playing this character?

COLLINS: Cas has changed a lot, and finding those transitions have been difficult. He’s gone from being a very self-assured, confident, powerful creature, when he first showed up, to wanting to assimilate into human society more and being more unsure of himself and more awkward, and then transitioning back to being God is another big change. So, there have been a lot of shifts over time, and negotiating each one of those provides its own unique challenges, but they’re all interesting and fun and make the job a lot of fun.

How much fun was Mark Sheppard to work with?

COLLINS: It was great. Mark is really good to work with. He’s a great actor, and he’s going to be back again this season. He’s being woven into the storyline quite a bit.

What made you decide to go to Haiti recently?

COLLINS: A bunch of Supernatural fans came along because they had raised money to build an orphanage. We are building it right now. It’s going swimmingly. I had been in Haiti in the ‘90s and I had some ties there, and then I had friends who were doing some good work there, so I joined up with them, but the earthquake definitely helped put Haiti back on my radar. And then, just fortuitously, different opportunities made that actually work out, as a place for us to do some work.

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